Charlie Murphy, One Of The Funniest Men Who Ever Lived, Has Passed Away At 57 From Leukemia

I gotta say man. This hurts. This really, really, really hurts. We’ve talked a lot over the last year and a half about celebrity deaths and what the “appropriate” level of grief is. As with most things in life, there are people on both sides who take it to ridiculous extremes. Some people react as if their own mother was killed in front of them – and that can be ridiculous. But on the flip side, I think the people who say things like “why do you care about a person who didn’t even know you?” and “people literally die every day, who cares about a celebrity?” and shit like that are even worse.

No, I didn’t know Charlie Murphy. But Charlie Murphy mattered in my life. Chappelle’s Show was a really, really important part of my development and appreciation of comedy – and Charlie Murphy was a vital part of that show. His delivery. His storytelling ability. His comedic timing. All the little nuances. His voice inflections. His physical reactions. And just his straight up sense of humor. I mean shit man. That dude was just funny as all hell. And when you’re a twelve, thirteen year old kid and you’re developing your sense of humor and you’re starting to understand not just what’s funny, but what funny is, that shit really matters. That’s why a death like this can be so rattling.

RIP Charlie Murphy.

And yes, of course I’ve got some Chappelle’s Show TAEKS…

The True Hollywood Stories got all the attention. Prince and Rick James. Those were iconic. Those were the first Chappelle skits to go mainstream, and for that have gotten tarnished over the years. That’s not unfair – Chappelle himself has credited it one of the main reasons he walked away from it all. People walking up to him with his kids yelling “I’M RICK JAMES BITCH” and “FUCK YO COUCH”. And just on the level of being an everyday person who was a diehard fan of the show, people running around yelling those line totally killed the whole skits. They seemed to lose all their luster – and that’s understandable.

But just try to go back and watch those today with a new level of appreciation. Try to watch them without thinking of people running around yelling “I’M RICK JAMES BITCH” or “PURIFY YOURSELF IN THE WATERS OF LAKE MINATONKA”

Because man… that was Charlie at his peak. The storytelling ability…

“Habitual Line Stepper”…

the dance he was doing in the club…

“Wrong. WRONG.”

the karate kicks…

“his legs was like linguine”

this laugh…

And you know what… if you’re sick of those two skits, I get it.

Because think of how many others there were.

Charlie as Buck Nasty in the Player Haters Ball, which is still pound for pound the best Chappelle sketch ever.

Nominated of course for getting his best friend’s wife pregnant, then tricking his best friend into raising the little mother fucker.

“Man you better take that cane, and beat whoever made that suit to death”

Charlie as Tyree in the Mad Real World…

Who stabbed Chad’s father…

and did, in fact, have sex with Katie too.

Charlie as Rodney “Quills” Dinkins, shooting Leonard Washington at the World Series Of Dice – “Below the waste, so it’s not attempted murder”

Charlie in the Time Traveling Haters

The behind the scenes of him starting the shake before the cameras started rolling

And while there’s plenty more clips to put in here… I’ll end it with Charlie Murphy as Oscar The Grouch.